A Debt Repaid
by OkayDokey33
Summary: Life at the W Academy is hectic enough, especially without one's own personal problems being added to the mix, and with life hitting them as hard as it did now, Vietnam and Ukraine could definitely use a break. But with whom? It's lonely to always take a break by yourself after all. Could Ukraine accidentally wrecking Vietnam's motorcycle be a sign?
1. Vietnam Wants a Break

"W-what?" a flustered Vietnam asked, a light blush spreading across her face. "Y-you want to interview me so that you can write an article about the Motorcycle Club?"

Japan nodded. "Yes. So far, the W Academy's Newspaper Club has interviewed every single head or authoritative figure of every single club in the school except for this one. Our apologies, but up until now, for some reason, we were never able to find or contact you."

Vietnam quickly raised her hands up in protest. "Y-you don't need to apologize, really!" She lowered her arms, averted her gaze towards the ground, and softly said, "If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I don't really like interviews, so when I heard that the Newspaper Club was planning on interviewing me I sort of, well… avoided you like the plague." She gave the members of the Newspaper Club a small, apologetic bow. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Germany sighed, folded his arms, shook his head, and asked, "If you don't like interviews then wouldn't it have made more sense to come up to us and get it over with?"

Vietnam straightened herself back up and blushed again. "Y-yeah, I know, but every time I saw one of you, for some reason I would just instinctively keep my head down and walk the other way."

"Don't worry about it!" Italy cried, a goofy grin practically plastered across his face. "We're doing it now, aren't we? Better late than never, right?"

"He's actually right for once," Germany said. He picked up a pen and notepad and said, "Alright, let's get this over with."

Vietnam nodded. "Y-yeah, that's probably for the best."

"Very good," Japan said, picking up his own pen and notepad as Italy cheerfully followed suit. "Now then, for starters, can you please tell us what you normally do in the Motorcycle Club?"

"Telling us lots of stuff would be great!" Italy cried.

"Well…," Vietnam was about to do just that, but when she saw the looks the Newspaper Club members were giving her she suddenly got cold feet. Germany was looking at her with the amount of seriousness you would expect from a serious, professional reporter, but more so. His piercing stare was so intense that Vietnam felt like he was literally peering into the farthest reaches of her soul, and it's at least somewhat hard not to feel somewhat nervous and intimidated when someone's looking at you like that.

Japan's stare was also a look you would find on certain reporters, the type of reports who were very serious and very enthusiastic about their jobs. The look he gave her could be described as calm on the outside, but noticeably eager and focused on the inside. The moment she had said, "Well…," he had immediately written that exact word down (and, believe it or not, when she did not continue immediately after that, the exact same number of periods after the word to emphasize her pause) and looked up at her with eager (yet calm and reserved) anticipation for what she was going to say next, and she could've sworn that she saw the hand holding his pen twitch as seconds went by and she still had yet to continue the thought of hers that he had started writing down. She had to admit that his enthusiastic efficiency in recording her every word was a bit overwhelming, and she was sadly never really good with anything "overwhelming".

The look on Italy's face was definitely enthusiastic, but at the same time there was something… unsettling about it. He was smiling, but it was just so absentminded, so silly, so… creepily vague. Vietnam didn't really know what it was, but something about it just made her feel more uncomfortable than she already was.

"W-well…," Vietnam began again, trying as hard as she could to finish her first sentence in the interview, but the uneasiness she felt from the strange looks of the Newspaper club made it hard for the words to come out. She blushed, averted her eyes away from their gazes, and slowly fiddled with her fingers. "We… talk about motorcycles."

Japan quickly wrote that down and, when he was finished, quickly looked back at Vietnam, patiently awaiting and preparing himself for more. When more didn't come, Germany and Japan nervously glanced at each other before Germany cleared his throat, and asked, "Um… and?"

"T-that's it."

"That's it?!" Germany repeated, shocked by this sudden revelation.

Vietnam blushed even harder and nodded. "Yeah… that's it."

"But that's impossible!" Germany argued. "There's got to be more to it than that!"

Despite Germany's prodding for more information, Vietnam stood her ground. "But that's really all there is to it," she softly insisted.

Germany was about to respond to Vietnam's disappointing insistence, but Japan calmly intervened, and said, "Forgive us, but we honestly expected more from a club that centered itself on the concept of motorcycles."

"Yeah!" Italy cried, frowning due to the disappointing amount of information they had received thus far, but as usual, a silly, innocent little thought popped up in the back of his head and he was back to his usual, goofy, smiling self. "Hey! Hey! Do you have special motorcycle races or something? Do you? Do you?!" he asked excitedly.

Vietnam shook her head. "N-No. Besides, no school would ever allow such a thing."

"Obviously," Germany muttered, shaking his head at Italy's ridiculous question. Just then, he remembered all of the strange and weird clubs they had already witnessed and interviewed and added, "Though with that being said, with all the strange things this school has allowed thus far, it's a mystery why they wouldn't allow something like THAT out of all things."

Italy let out a small, disappointed sigh. "That's a shame. A motorcycle race would be fun, wouldn't it?" he asked with a smile.

"I wouldn't really know," Vietnam said.

"Excuse me," Japan said after quickly writing down every last word that every last person had said in the interview up until now, "but can you please specify what you mean by 'We talk about motorcycles'?" He wanted to try one last time to get some article-worthy information from Vietnam, and besides, the interview had gotten somewhat off-track.

Vietnam shrugged. "I could, but that's basically the gist of it." She blushed at the answer she gave them. It wasn't that Vietnam was bad at public speaking; she could do it just fine if it was in front of a serious audience and if it were on an important occasion, but that was just it, neither the interview nor the interviewers in general were that serious nor that important.

Disappointed by his failed attempt to get any article-worthy information, Japan sighed, jotted down what little Vietnam had said, and whispered, "Well, I guess that's that."

Germany nodded in disappointed agreement. "Yeah," he whispered. "It's a shame, but this interview sadly isn't going anywhere."

"Wait, what?" a surprised Vietnam asked.

"The interview's over," Germany answered.

Vietnam couldn't believe it. Had she really been running away from something that was so short and so simple? "Really?" she asked incredulously.

"Well," Germany said, "you technically answered our question." He looked away and muttered, "Though an answer with a bit more detail would've been nice."

"And we usually ask more than one question," Japan added, "but with the way the interview is going…," his sentence trailed off from there.

Realizing what they meant, Vietnam blushed and gave them all an apologetic bow. "S-Sorry, but I'm not too keen on talking about myself," she looked away and murmured, "especially in front of such a strange crowd."

"I can definitely relate," Germany said, glancing at Italy, who still had that unusual, goofy grin on his face. He then looked back at Vietnam. "Well, if we're finished here then we should probably head back and start working on the next issue of the paper now." He pointed behind them with his thumb, indicating that they were planning to leave in that direction.

Japan nodded. "Right." He turned to Vietnam and gave her a respectful bow. "Thank you for your time."

"Though you honestly could've spared us a little bit more of it," Germany grumbled.

Vietnam blushed again. "Y-yeah, I know." She decided to give them all one last apologetic bow. "I apologize again for being such a bother." Before they could respond to her apology, Vietnam stepped back, preparing to leave as subtly and as quickly as she could. "Well, I guess we'll be going our separate ways now." She raised her hand up to wave good-bye as she started leaving in the direction opposite the direction Germany had previously indicated. "I'll see you guys around, I guess."

"Wait!" Italy cried. "Before you go, let me take a picture of you for the paper!" Then, seemingly from out of nowhere, he took out a small camera, aimed it at Vietnam, and cried, "Say 'Pasta!'!"

"Wait, no!" Vietnam cried, blushing furiously as she raised her arms up to cover her face. "I'm not photogenic!" But it was too late. By the time she said that, Italy had already taken her picture and it wasn't a very good one either. He had taken the picture just before her arms completely covered her face, to reveal her face in all its blushing, frantic, screaming glory.

"Italy!" Germany cried. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Italy put down the camera and looked at Germany with that same, strange, absentminded, shameless smile on his face. "I'm taking a picture of Vietnam for the paper!" he answered, cheerfully and innocently.

Germany swiped the camera out of Italy's hands. "Idiot! You can't just take pictures of people before they're ready! The picture will be horrible otherwise!"

Italy seemed legitimately surprised by this statement. "Really?" he asked.

Germany shook his head and sighed. "Honestly, sometimes I just don't know what to do with you." He looked at the camera in his hands. "By the way, what type of camera is this?"

Italy smiled again. "Isn't it great?!" he cried, waving his arms around excitedly. "It was really cheap too!" He gave Germany and Japan a cheerful thumbs-up to celebrate finding this cheap, usable camera.

"That doesn't answer my question," Germany muttered.

"I-I'm sorry," Vietnam said, "but can you please retake my picture? I wasn't ready."

"Yeah, sure," Germany said. "Let me just find out how this thing works." He examined Italy's camera for a moment before looking at Italy and asking, "Hey, Italy, what's the deal with this thing?! There's only one button on it!"

Japan took the camera out of Germany's hands and examined it himself. "Hmm," he said upon examining the camera. "I believe this is one of those cheap, disposable cameras one can find in drug stores."

"What?!" Germany and Vietnam cried.

Japan nodded. "Cameras like this have a set number of pictures you can take. They have no zoom in or zoom out features, or any features for that matter. You take basic pictures with it, and after you reach the limit you can't take any more. You go and get your photos developed and after that, the camera's unfortunately useless." He turned to Vietnam. "I'm sorry Vietnam, but we can't retake your picture. Italy's camera has already reached its limit, and it can't delete any of its previous photos, so unfortunately, the only picture we have of you will have to be the one we'll have to work with."

"W-wait, what?!" Vietnam cried. "But can't you just get another camera and take another picture of me with that?!"

Germany folded his arms and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the Newspaper Club is on a very strict budget."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Vietnam cried frantically.

"W-well," Germany began, a light blush appearing on his face as he averted his eyes away from Vietnam's gaze. Apparently whatever the explanation was, he wasn't too proud of it. "You see, we kind of already blew our budget on… well… -"

Before Germany could finish his sentence, Italy flung himself in front of Vietnam (which startled her a bit) and cried, "Pasta!"

Germany blushed even harder. "Y-yes, pasta."

Just mentioning it got Italy licking his lips. "It was so good too!" he cried.

"Wipe that smile off your face!" Germany cried. "This isn't something you should be smiling about!"

"Huh? Why?"

"It's because of you that almost anything else we need to buy doesn't fit into our budget!"

"Yes, who knew that pasta would be so costly?" Japan muttered. "At least, by our standards."

"So let me get this straight," Vietnam said, "you can't retake my picture, because you can't afford it?!"

At this point, even Japan was starting to blush out of embarrassment. "W-Well, we CAN afford it… after we sell a few papers, that is."

The three of them took a brief moment of silence while Italy was humming to himself besides them. Vietnam was almost scared to ask this, but after taking a deep breath and brushing her bangs to the side, worked up the courage to quietly ask, "When does the next issue of the paper come out?"

A pause, before Japan reluctantly answered, "Tomorrow."

Vietnam's eyes widened. "T-tomorrow?!" she repeated weakly.

Japan slowly nodded. "Tomorrow," he confirmed.

For a moment, Vietnam couldn't believe her ears. "Why?" she asked.

"It's the Newspaper Club's policy!" Germany explained passionately. "As the W Academy's Newspaper Club, we strive to write and produce our papers at the professional level! That means we strive to write detailed, informative, shocking, well-written articles at a daily pace! We will not rest until we make tomorrow's paper because we care about our readers and we believe that our readers deserve the very best in terms of service and of quality!" He raised his fist up and bellowed, "W Academy's Newspaper Club!"

Japan raised his fist up into the air and cried (as loudly as he could), "W Academy's Newspaper Club!"

Italy followed suit and cried, "Yeah!"

After a moment of silence, Germany realized that he had gotten carried away and had started the Newspaper Club's cheer in the middle of a school hallway looking like an idiot in front of Vietnam and anyone else who was coincidentally in that same hallway (and who knows, maybe even anyone beyond that said hallway). He blushed, slowly lowered his arm, coughed into his fist, and said, "But yeah, that's how it is… sorry."

Vietnam thought for a moment before asking, "Can you avoid writing an article about me on the next issue?"

Japan slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we can't. We wanted to write an article about every club and every president in each club, and because you've been avoiding the interview with us until now, you're unfortunately the only person left who hasn't had an article written about them and their respective club, and we don't have any articles we could replace your article with on the paper."

At this, Vietnam was slowly starting to panic. All this time she had been avoiding the inevitable, and in the end, she was definitely going to pay for it. She blushed at the idea of everyone in the entire school seeing that no doubt terrible, terrible picture of her. "Please don't," she pleaded weakly.

Japan reluctantly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we're already scheduled to use the Newspaper Club's official classroom today after school. The teacher expects us to be there."

"And we can't NOT put your picture next to your article," Germany explained, "because we've already put everyone else's picture besides everyone else's article."

Realizing that there was literally no way out, Vietnam covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head in dismay. "Oh no," she mumbled through her fingers. "This CANNOT be happening!"

"Aw, come on!" Italy cheerfully said, giving Vietnam that goofy grin of his. "You're over-thinking this! There's nothing for you to worry about! A cute girl like you couldn't have had THAT bad of a picture, right?"

Vietnam groaned. If history has taught her anything, it was that Italy just gave this situation its kiss of death.

* * *

The next day, just as she had predicted, everyone bought a copy of the school paper, and when everybody saw Vietnam's terrible picture alongside the almost (if not more) terrible article about her and the Motorcycle Club, Vietnam spent the entire day being bombarded with questions and comments such as:

"What is the meaning of this?! This picture was obviously rushed! What, do you think interviews aren't worth your time? Are you so arrogant as to believe that you're above such things?!"

Vietnam shook her head and waved her hands frantically from side to side in denial. "No! T-That's not it at all!"

"Ha ha! This picture's hilarious! Hey, Vietnam, what do you call this? Your 'Gah!' face?"

Vietnam blushed uncontrollably as she shook her head. "N-No, of course not!"

"Hey, are you really this shy Vietnam?"

"I-I don't know!"

"Pitiful."

"S-Sorry!"

"I didn't know a face could be this red!"

"I-I didn't know either!"

"What is this? Are you hiding behind a blur?"

"T-That would be my arms trying to cover up my face."

There wasn't really any particular type of comment or question that embarrassed her more, she was simply embarrassed by all of the unwanted attention she was receiving, and for the majority of the day, she felt like she wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. Luckily for her, the school day had just ended, and she was currently making a quick (but subtle) break for the parking lot to get onto her motorcycle, ride home, and quickly leave this terrible day behind her.

Unluckily for her, Taiwan was with her, trying to convince her that this entire, painful ordeal wasn't as bad as she thought. "Come on Vietnam, it's not so bad!"

"Yes it is," Vietnam calmly argued.

"No, it's not!" Taiwan insisted. "I mean, look at this picture!" She forced Vietnam to look at the picture that Vietnam had already seen many times that day, and just like all those other times, blushed furiously as she came face to face with it. "Can you believe how cute you look in this?!" Taiwan demanded.

Vietnam couldn't believe her ears. "'Cute'?!" How could anyone possibly think that this picture was cute?

Taiwan nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's SUPER cute! It perfectly displays all of the charm the 'shy girl' archetype possesses!" Taiwan let out a dreamy sigh and murmured, "I wish I had even half of your 'shy girl' charm."

"Yeah, well that makes one of us," Vietnam muttered. This may have looked cute to Taiwan, but to Vietnam it looked like it could win first place in "The Most Embarrassing Picture Ever Taken Competition", and she definitely felt embarrassed too. Vietnam sighed. "Honestly," she thought, "to this day, I STILL don't get her taste in what's cute and what's not, or her entire thought process for that matter."

"Besides," Vietnam said, "the article that goes with it is just as embarrassing."

Taiwan disapprovingly shooed that remark away. "Oh please, you're over-exaggerating Viet!" She looked at the said article, cleared her voice, and read, "While some of us go to school on a school bus or on foot, Vietnam chooses to go to school on her own personal motorcycle! Vietnam, a proud representative and president of W Academy's proud Motorcycle Club, gave the Newspaper Club the full story about what goes on within the walls of one the academy's most interesting and most exciting clubs!" Taiwan then tried to imitate Vietnam's voice as she read her quote. "'W-well…. We talk about motorcycles,' Vietnam said. When we begged her to reveal more about the interesting and exciting events that took place within the club, Vietnam simply said, 'I could, but that's basically the gist of it'.

"We were disappointed to hear that, sadly, the Motorcycle Club does not participate in any motorcycle races of any kind. What a strange world we live in! Well fellow readers, it's been a great run, but sadly, this is the Newspaper Club's final club interview. Purchase the next issue of this academy's proud newspaper in order to see our newest column, 'Pasta! Tips from Italy Himself'! Ciao! This article was written by Germany, Japan and Italy!"

She put down the newspaper and squealed. "That was SO cool! They wanted information out of you and you were all cool and stuff, saying stuff like, 'No, you don't deserve to know! I'll only give you a vague idea about what we do here, and that's final!'! You're rocking the 'shy girl' AND the 'cool girl' and 'mysterious girl' archetype Vietnam!"

Vietnam just shook her head in dismay. That article about her was the shortest article of its kind and it made her look extremely shallow. Yeah sure, she didn't want too much attention on her, good or bad, but she also had enough pride to make her want to look at least somewhat decent in front of everybody else, and this article proved to everyone that, word for word, she wasn't, or at the very least, it gave them a reason to think that. Honestly, despite all the time Vietnam and Taiwan spend with each other, Vietnam doubted that they really understood each other that much.

"Well, I'm going home now," Vietnam said. "Bye."

"Oh!" Taiwan cried, he eyes sparkling out of excitement. "Can I come with you and see those rockin' set of wheels of yours?"

"No," Vietnam said firmly as she quickly walked away. Honestly, Taiwan was nice and all, but sometimes, she was just too energetic and cheerful for Vietnam to handle, to the point where sometimes, Vietnam felt like she just needed a break; and with life hitting her as hard as it did right now, she desperately wanted one, but that usually meant that Vietnam would have to spend a lot of time by herself, and despite how often she detested attention, she would've felt better if she had a friend to take a break with rather than take a break from, but with how hectic all the other nations could get, the chances of her finding someone like that seemed slim to none.


	2. Ukraine Wants a Break

"Big sister!" a female voice cried.

Ukraine and Hungary turned around to see Ukraine's little sister, Belarus, quickly speed walking her way up to them. "Belarus!" Ukraine happily cried, unshed tears of joy forming at the corners of her eyes. "It's so great to see you! It's been so long!"

She was happily about to hug her, but Belarus saw it coming and immediately stopped her by holding up her hand and extending it outward, stopping the overexcited Ukraine in her tracks and preventing her from getting close enough to hug her. "Don't take it too personally sister," Belarus said, with as much calm restraint and maturity as she could muster. "If the current situation had not presented itself, I would rather be doing anything besides hang out with you and those enormously large knockers of yours."

Ukraine, taken aback by Belarus's blunt, somewhat insulting statement, cowardly stepped back from Belarus, but tried her best to keep a smile on her face. "O-Oh, I see. That's okay, I understand. You have more important things to do than spend time with little old me, but still," the tears she held back until now finally fell down her face, "it's been so long since we've talked to each other, and I'm just… so happy!" She then ignored every opposing survival instinct in her body and suddenly enveloped her little sister in a big, soft, suffocating hug.

"Get these pathetic excuses for airbags out of my face this instant, you witch!" Belarus said, her voice unfortunately muffled by Ukraine's giant chest covering her entire face.

Ukraine, upon realizing what she had just done, immediately released Belarus and stepped back to look at the damage she had unintentionally done. She saw now that Belarus's hair was all messed up and that she was now trying to bring oxygen back into her lungs. "Oh no!" Ukraine wailed. "How stupid of me! All this time, I've longed to be reunited with my sister again, but now that I have, I almost suffocated her to death because of my stupid chest! And now she probably hates me all over again! Oh Belarus, please forgive me!"

She was about to go up to Belarus and hold her hands as a means of begging, but luckily, Hungary noticed the hostile atmosphere radiating off of Belarus and stopped her friend just in time. "Uku," she said gently, "please, you're being too hard on yourself."

"No she isn't!" Belarus cried. "I could've died just now! And do you know how humiliating it would've been if I had died suffocating in my sister's enormous milk makers?! I'd be the laughingstock at my own funeral! And not just me, but big brother Russia too! He'd probably be so humiliated that he probably wouldn't even want to go to my funeral in the first place!" A sudden thought popped into Belarus's head and she gasped. "Wait," she growled, "now I get it! You were trying to kill me so that you could have big brother Russia all to yourself! And with a death so humiliating, brother Russia wouldn't even attempt visiting my grave, and because of that, he would have no choice but to spend and devote all of his time, love, and energy on you! How could you sister?! HOW COULD YOU?!"

"What?!" Ukraine cried, raising her hands up in front of her in an attempt to calm her little sister down. "But sister, I would never do such a thing!"

"LIAR!" Belarus cried.

"Now wait just a minute!" Hungary said, stepping in between Ukraine and Belarus, getting in Belarus's way as to prevent her from ripping poor Ukraine to shreds with her bare hands. "You can't go around making all of these crazy accusations without anything to back them up!"

"Hun-dear," Ukraine whispered frantically, "what are you doing?"

"You can't let your sister have her way with you Uku!" Hungary said with complete conviction. "And if you're not going to do it, then I might as well do it for you!"

Ukraine gasped, unshed tears forming from the corners of her eyes again. "B-But, you can't!"

"Sure I can!" Hungary insisted. She glared at Belarus, who just so happened to be glaring back, not backing down despite being in the presence of the battle-hardened female nation. "I'm not scared of her!"

"No, you can't!" Ukraine cried, trying to keep Hungary back from starting a fight with her younger sibling. "She's my little sister Hun-dear!"

"That's no excuse!" Hungary argued. She stopped trying to get to Belarus and turned to face Ukraine. "When are you going to stop letting her walk all over you and stand up for yourself Uku?!"

"W-Well," Ukraine didn't really know how to respond to that. "I don't know!" She averted her eyes away from Hungary's demanding gaze and murmured, "When I'm ready, I guess."

Hungary let out an exasperated sigh. "You mean never," Hungary softly accused.

The tears were welling up in Ukraine's eyes. "Hun-dear!"

Hungary let out another angry sigh and slowly rubbed her temples in an attempt to calm herself. "Okay, you're right, that was a bit extreme, but you understand what I'm trying to say, right?"

Ukraine quickly nodded. "Yes, but," Ukraine once again averted her eyes away from Hungary's and sheepishly fiddled with her fingers, "… aren't things already okay the way they are?"

"Uku! This isn't healthy!"

"Please," Ukraine pleaded, "can't we just talk about something else?"

Hungary let out a defeated sigh. At this rate, she knew that Ukraine wasn't going to listen to her no matter what she said, so she decided to let it go, for now. "Alright, fine," she said, lifting her hands up to emphasize her passive, though noticeably dispirited, resignation towards her friend's request. She then turned to Belarus, irritably placed her hands on her hips, and asked, "So if you're not here for Uku, then what ARE you here for?"

Belarus folded her arms, let out an exasperated huff, and explained, "If you must know, Big brother Russia has been avoiding me, and I hear that, as part of the Soviet Union Club, he targets W Academy's Choral Club on a regular basis. No doubt he is hypnotized by those overblown melons of yours, sister." She flashed a quick, spiteful, disapproving glance towards Ukraine's chest, while the owner of the said chest gasped in surprise at her sister's accusation.

"But Belarus, that can't be! I haven't seen Russia in a while either," tears welled up in her eyes as she added, "and besides, even if I did see him, I have been forbidden by my boss to associate with him in any way! Oh Belarus, why can't we all just be one, small, happy family again?!"

Belarus quickly looked away. "Please, the only family that I wish to be a part of is a family with only Russia and me!" she declared.

"Yes," Hungary muttered angrily and sarcastically, "forget the older sister who cared for you when you were young." She shook her head and added, "Honestly, I can't understand why Uku lets you get away with stuff like this."

"Hun-dear," Ukraine pleaded softly, "please, just let it go."

Despite Ukraine's appeal for peace and Hungary's admittedly reluctant act of compliancy, it didn't stop Hungary from grumbling as she and Belarus stared daggers at one another, with Ukraine looking nervously back and forth between the two. The silence and the tension in the air simply added to her worries.

Finally, Belarus broke the silence by asking, "Not that I am all that interested in your personal lives or anything, but where are you two heading off to anyway?"

Hungary let out an angry huff, and answered, "If you must know, the Choral Club contacted me and asked me to inform your sister (who they couldn't contact themselves, by the way, because your sister can't afford her own cell phone) that they wanted to meet her at the front of the school after school, and, being her friend and all, I decided to tag along." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Belarus. "Does that answer your question?"

Belarus folded her arms and narrowed her eyes as she looked at Hungary. "Yes, yes it does," she said. She then smirked, and said, "Though, if you ask me, I think the only reason you want to tag along with Double-Ds over here is because you want to see those three Baltic boys." She snickered, before she added, "I get it. It's easier to imagine them in a hardcore threesome when you see them in person, am I right?"

Hungary gasped. "T-That's not true!" she cried, and it actually wasn't. She had genuinely gone with Ukraine because she was her friend, but the moment Belarus placed that particular thought into her head, a faint blush slowly spread across her face as she rolled her eyes up and imagined the scene Belarus had just suggested. "But now that you mention it, that would be pretty hot," she said, her mouth opening slightly, a bit of drool falling down from the edge of her mouth. "I bet they know EXACTLY how to handle each other."

Belarus sighed. "You're almost as bad as my sister," she gave Ukraine a quick, angry glance, "…almost."

This seemed to immediately pull Hungary out of her daydream, as she shook her head and glared, once again, at Ukraine's little sister. "What is wrong with you?!" Hungary cried. She turned to confront her friend. "Do something about this Uku!" When Ukraine didn't do anything, Hungary added, "You've got two reasons to chew her out right now! One is to defend yourself and the other is to defend me, your friend!" Still nothing. A part of Hungary just couldn't believe it. "Uku," she exclaimed, "I'm trying to help you!"

"I know!" Ukraine wailed, tears running down her face. "I'm sorry Hun-dear, but… I just can't… at least, not right now!"

Hungary was starting to get tired of this excuse. Obviously Ukraine needed a bit more of a push. "Uku, if you don't do it now-"

"I know!"

"If you know then you should be able to do it!"

Ukraine shook her head. "I'm sorry Hun, but… I just can't!"

A pause. "Why Uku?" Hungary asked softly. Ukraine gasped once she heard just how softly her friend had asked this. Mustering up enough courage to look at her friend, Ukraine could only whimper feebly as she came face to face with Hungary's extremely hurt, worried, and disappointed presence.

Ukraine was completely horrified. "D-Did I do this?" she inwardly asked herself. "Did I really cause my friend this much pain?"

Ukraine shook her head again, the tears falling down harder and faster than before. "I… I don't know! It's because I'm stupid, alright?!" Then, blubbering like a baby, Ukraine ran off towards the front of the school, ignoring her friend and her sister's attempts to stop her, her chest making their trademark "boing" sound as she ran.

"I'm horrible!" Ukraine thought as she ran, keeping her head down in a vain attempt to keep from attracting too much attention to herself. "All I ever do is cause problems and make other people worry about me!" She shook her head self-loathingly, hating herself more and more with each passing step she took. "I wish I was different! I wish everything was different!"

Yes, life could get pretty hectic, especially when you're related to Russia and Belarus, and for someone like Ukraine, it was even more horribly so. She loved both of her siblings, immensely and unconditionally, but unfortunately for her, life just wouldn't let her do that, at least, not up close, which was something she desperately longed for everyday. Sure, she wanted to have and spend time with other friends besides Russia and Belarus, but that shouldn't mean she should have to be separated from them for such long periods of time; and every time she did have a miraculous moment of time with them, being Ukraine, she would always find a way to screw it up and probably taint her relationship with them more and more every time they met.

And then there were friends like Hungary, who she knew cared deeply for her just as much as she cared deeply for them, but there were so many things about her that worried them, so much, in fact, that Ukraine often wondered if she was more trouble to them than she was actually worth. As a result of herself and the rotten luck she usually had with her, she always felt awful when she was around her friends and family, even when she tried her best to feel otherwise. Once and a while, Ukraine longed for a break, a break from her, although caring, somewhat eccentric friends, a break from her admittedly strange and crazy siblings, a break from that awful feeling she almost always felt whenever she was around them, but in all honesty, looking at her life up until this point, she had no reason to believe that was even remotely possible.


	3. There is No Break

The Baltic Trio was talking amongst themselves in the front of the school, when suddenly they heard the sound which they had learned to recognize as the sound of unrestrained boobs bouncing uncontrollably up and down. They turned towards the direction of the "boinging" to see their fellow Choral Club member, Ukraine, running up to them with her head down, whimpering to herself as she was being chased by Hungary and Belarus, who looked to be trying to catch up to her and unsuccessfully trying to get her to stop.

As the three female nations were running toward them, the three Baltics anxiously awaited them, though they honestly didn't know what to make of it. "W-what's going on with them?" asked a flustered Lithuania.

Estonia took a moment to observe the scene that was slowly, but surely, approaching them. "Hmm. It looks like Ukraine is crying and is being chased by Hungary and her little sister, Belarus."

"Really?" Lithuania said. "Why?"

Estonia let out an exasperated sigh, shook his head, and shrugged. "I honestly have no idea." He turned to Latvia, who, due to his usual worrying ways, was already starting to sweat profusely. "Latvia, do you know anything about this?"

Latvia gulped. "Well, Belarus acts scary in front of everyone, even towards her own sister, and Hungary is always telling Ukraine to stand up to her every once in a while. The two of them in the same place and Ukraine in the middle of it probably isn't the best thing in the world." He gave Estonia and Lithuania a worried look. "We don't have to deal with them, do we?"

"Of course not," Estonia answered, fixing his glasses accordingly. "All we have to do is give Ukraine her sheet music, tell her what it's for, and that'll be the end of it."

Latvia squirmed nervously. "I'm not so sure it's going to go down like that."

"Well," Lithuania whispered with a gulp, "it's too late to do anything now."

At that very moment, as if on cue, Ukraine was about to run right past the three, but Estonia stopped her by calling out, "Ukraine?"

She abruptly stopped and froze in place for a moment, before turning around to reveal a fresh new set of tears running down her face. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I'm such an idiot! I let my own personal problems get the better of me and almost forgot what I was supposed to do in the first place! Please forgive me!" She gave the three Baltics an apologetic bow, but they were all too worried about Hungary and Belarus to truly appreciate the gesture.

"That's okay," Estonia said as calmly, but as quickly as he could. "You're here, and that's all that matters." He quickly took out Ukraine's copy of the sheet music from the manila folder he had been carrying under his arm and gave it to her. "The school wants us to sing this song for a special event that's coming soon. The day we're scheduled to sing it is written on top." He pointed it out to her. "As you can see, there isn't much time between then and now, so in order for this to work, we're going to have to practice every day at lunch and after school, no exceptions. Agreed?"

Ukraine, after taking a moment to dry the current tears on her face, firmly nodded, and answered, "Yes, of course."

The three Baltics smiled. "Good," Estonia said. "Well, we must be off, so if you don't mind -"

Just then, Hungary suddenly pushed Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia aside and cried, "There you are!" She then let out an exasperated huff and crossed her arms out of her frustration towards her friend's ridiculous behavior. "Uku! What do you think you're doing?! Did you think that you could just run away and everything would be okay?!"

"W-well, no," Ukraine admitted, "but -"

"I know why she ran away!" Belarus exclaimed. "She ran away so that she could hog big brother Russia all to herself!"

"W-what?!" Ukraine cried. "Belarus, that's not true!"

"Well," Estonia said, adjusting his glasses nervously as the Baltic Trio slowly attempted to flee the premises, "obviously whatever this is is between the three of you, so, if neither of you mind, the three of us will simply take our leave while you three settle the matter privately amongst yourselves and-"

"Hold it right there boys," Hungary said, promptly stopping the Baltics in their tracks. She then flashed the trio an innocent-looking smile and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Oh no!" Latvia whispered frantically. "She wants to ask us something!"

"Don't worry," Estonia muttered solemnly. "As long as we don't say anything, we won't get involved!"

Hungary then took a moment to look the three male nations over and scratch her chin a bit as she considered her options. Once decided, she proceeded to approach a panic-striken Lithuania, and innocently asked, "Lithuania, don't you think it's about time that Ukraine finally stood up to her little sister?"

Despite having heard what Estonia had just advised to Latvia about the connection between silence and noninvolvement, Lithuania was quickly and sadly cracking under Hungary's pressure. "W-well… yeah, sure, I guess," Lithuania said, scratching the back of his head as nonchalantly as he could as he attempted to let out a cheerful laugh, but due to his anxiety, it came out as more awkward than cheerful.

Estonia inwardly sighed as he readjusted his glasses, this time, in defeat. "And just like that, we're involved."

"Stupid Lithuania!" Latvia inwardly cried.

A satisfied smile appeared on Hungary's lips. She then grasped one of Lithuania's shoulders and gave it a reassuring pat. "Thank you, Lithuania."

"Lithuania!" Belarus cried, strutting up to the said nation, folding her arms angrily, and activating that ominously crazy aura of hers. "Don't you think that Ukraine should stop hogging big brother Russia all to herself?"

Fearing for his life, but also at a complete loss for words, Lithuania could only muster a pitiful, "Um… yeah, sure… why not?"

"And don't you think," Belarus continued, "that Ukraine should stop listening to other people besides her family, especially," she quickly gave Hungary a smug smirk, "rotten women who can't help but fantasize about men -"

"You wouldn't dare!" Hungary cried.

"You started it!" Belarus countered.

"Hun-dear, Belarus, please!" Ukraine cried, quickly standing between the two to prevent them from tearing each other apart.

"What do we do now?" Latvia whispered frantically to Estonia.

"Well, now, because of Lithuania's little slip-up -"

"S-sorry," Lithuania murmured apologetically.

"Now's not the time for apologies!" Estonia urgently hissed. He readjusted his glasses as he regained his composure and nodded towards the two bickering nations and their peacekeeper. "Look, they're distracted."

"Yeah, so?" Latvia asked.

"So… this is our perfect chance to escape!" The trio then proceeded to turn around in an attempt to make a break for it, only for their glimmer of hope to quickly turn into a world of never-ending despair as they immediately bumped into a tall, familiar, scarf wearing, male nation.

"Hello!" Russia cried.

"Oh snap! It's Russia!" the Baltics cried. Following their usual survival instincts, they quickly turned around in an attempt to run away from Russia, forgetting the fact that the opposite direction occupied Hungary, Ukraine and Belarus, and ran into them, accidentally pushing them back in the process.

Now the front of the school has steps leading to the main, designated entrance, and, as of now, everyone (Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Belarus, and Ukraine) has been at the very top of these steps. Now the push the three Baltics gave to the three female nations wasn't _that_ hard of a push, so Hungary and Belarus were perfectly capable of stopping themselves from falling headlong down the steps… the only problem was that Ukraine's center-of-gravity was heavy enough to tip her over the edge and make her tumble comically down the steps.

Now at the bottom of those steps, directly in Ukraine's path, were England and Romania, who were testing out a new spell they had just discovered. They were standing beside a small, toy rocket, which was pointed directly towards the sky while England was looking over the spell from the book they found it in and while Romania was waiting anxiously for England's authorization.

After what seemed like an eternity to Romania, England finally nodded his approval. "Alright, everything seems to be in place." He looked towards Romania. "You sure you got the spell memorized?"

Romania smiled confidently, nodded, and gave England the thumbs up. "You betcha."

England smiled contently. "Good." He placed the book on the ground. "Okay, so, just to clarify, if this works, this rocket will launch itself up into space, and, with our nations' flags painted on the rocket," he indicated towards the said flags that were painted on the side of the rocket, "anyone who sees it will know that England and Romania have found a way to launch objects into space without engines or jets or any type of technology whatsoever." England took a deep breath, and asked, "Are you ready?"

Romania smiled and gave England a quick nod, hardly able to contain his excitement. "Ready as I'll ever be," he answered.

England smiled. "Good." He and Romania both clasped their hands together. "Then let's do this, shall we?"

The two of them took a moment to build their concentration, before chanting, "Let it fly, like an angel, like Tinker Bell and a cocker spaniel; let it fly, like an angel, like Tinker Bell and a cocker spaniel; let it fly, like an angel, like Tinker Bell and a cocker spaniel; let it fly, like an angel, like Tinker Bell and a cocker spaniel…."

As they were chanting, a mystical aura slowly began to emit from their hands. Romania grinned. "It's working!" he cried excitedly.

"Don't get too excited!" England advised, though Romania could plainly see that he was getting just as excited, if not more. "Let's finish the chant first, then aim all of this magical energy at the rocket, then we can say if it worked or not!" Romania nodded understandingly and once again focused on the task at hand.

Then, once the amount of magical power looked just about right, England cried, "Okay, aim your palms towards the rocket, and then… fire!"

And they did just that, however, at the last second, Ukraine tumbled down the steps and crashed into the rocket, shoving the rocket out of the way with her body and placing Ukraine in firing range. It happened so quickly and so suddenly that neither Romania nor England could cancel the spell or redirect their aim, resulting in the spell hitting Ukraine instead; and, with her head at that very moment facing towards the street, the spell propelled her towards the street at breakneck speed, where she collided with a certain female nation who was trying to leave school as fast as she possibly could on her motorcycle and who just so happened to be passing by and in Ukraine's body's line of fire.

The collision between Ukraine's and Vietnam's bodies forced Vietnam off of her motorcycle and onto the grass on the other side of the street and forced Ukraine (thanks to Vietnam's body getting in the way) to stop flying and land right beside her. Thankfully, Ukraine's chest mostly cushioned her fall while Vietnam, wearing all of the necessary protection a motorcyclist should have, was unharmed, albeit with a few small scrapes, scratches, and bruises here and there. Vietnam's motorcycle, however, was not as fortunate. The force of Ukraine's body pushing Vietnam off of Vietnam's motorcycle was enough to make the motorcycle tip over and, with the speed it was already at at the moment, land hard on its side, igniting sparks as the metal skidded against the street, damaging the motorcycle until it eventually hit the edge of one of the sidewalks, which, because of the speed and the force the motorcycle hit it at, flipped the motorcycle into the air, crashing it into an innocent tree.

After a quick apology from Ukraine and a quick reassurance from Vietnam, the two quickly ran down the street to see the damage. Just as Ukraine and Vietnam arrived at the scene, a large crowd had followed them and was standing behind them, staring in both awe and horror at the banged up motorcycle and the poor tree unfortunate enough to be in its path.

After a dreadful, guilt-ridden moment to take the entire image in, Ukraine felt someone gently place their hand on her shoulder. She turned around to find out that that hand belonged to Hungary, and she wasn't alone. Behind her were Belarus and the three Baltics, who had come to check on her condition.

"Uku," Hungary asked, concern evident in her eyes as she quickly, but carefully, looked her friend over for any sign of injury, "are you alright?"

Ukraine nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." She then blushed, and added, "My breasts broke most of the fall for me."

Belarus folded her arms and let out an annoyed and angry huff. "Yes, those giant knockers of yours seem to be capable of doing lots of things, don't they? For example," she gestured towards the results of the accident in front of them, "your boobs just destroyed that motorcycle."

Hungary angrily glared at her. "Stop it! It wasn't her fault!"

"Yes," Estonia agreed quietly, "if anything, it was our fault for accidentally pushing you down the steps." Lithuania and Latvia nodded in agreement. "We hope that you can forgive us," Estonia finished, and the three Baltics then proceeded to give Ukraine an apologetic bow.

Ukraine soothingly smiled at them and quickly tried to wave off their apology. "There's no need to apologize!" Ukraine said. "It was obviously an accident."

Hungary smiled and nodded. "Yeah, don't beat yourself up about it." She then frowned, let out an annoyed huff, and added, "If it was anybody's fault, it would have to be -" just then, Romania and England had finally found their way past the crowd, "- well speak of the devil." Hungary folded her arms angrily. "If it isn't Romania and England, the ones who CAUSED this entire mess in the first place!"

Romania's eyes narrowed as he glared at Hungary and folded his arms defensively. "Hungary," he said, the hint of disgust apparent in his voice, "just what are you talking about?"

Hungary wasn't one to lose her cool so quickly, but with Romania, it was an obvious exception. "It was one of your spells that caused this mess! What were you thinking performing one of those crazy spells of your in public like that?!" She gestured towards the completely trashed motorcycle and the beaten down tree behind her. "Just look at what happened!"

"It wasn't our fault!" Romania cried, though he had to admit, Hungary did have a point about this one. Usually the Magic Club would privately perform their spells indoors to avoid casualties, and this being the first time the club had ever performed a spell outdoors, in public no less, it didn't exactly look good on them. He looked at England and gently, though frantically, nudged him. "England, help me out here!" he hissed.

Too embarrassed to want to take responsibility for this particular mess, England was immediately on the defensive. "How the heck were we supposed to know that a woman with boobs the size of bloody planet Earth was going to crash into our rocket and be a target for one our spells?! How the bloody 'ell were we supposed to know about that, huh?!"

As the three of them argued about whose fault this mess was, Ukraine looked around and asked, "Belarus, where's Russia?"

Belarus blushed, looked away, and answered, "He left the moment he saw me. Obviously my chest isn't big enough for his taste." She then pointed an accusing finger at Ukraine and cried, "Why can't you stop using your boobs to hog him sister?!"

"B-but Belarus, that just isn't the case!"

Unbeknownst to all of them (except for Vietnam, who had been well aware on how loud they were being right now), everyone had heard what they had said, and because of this, everyone in the crowd started gossiping amongst themselves, and Vietnam could hear every last word of it.

"Did you hear? Boobs destroyed that motorcycle!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah, and get this, that motorcycle belongs to Vietnam!"

"Vietnam? The nation that appeared in today's paper?!"

"Yeah!"

"The one with that weird photo and article about her?"

"Yeah, that's the one!"

Vietnam blushed furiously. "How could this day possibly get any worse?" she inwardly asked herself.

Just then, an excited America managed to squeeze his way through the crowd. "Aw, come on!" he cried to no one in particular, obviously disappointed with the spectacle before him. "Lame! Is that it?! What? No explosion?"

Vietnam's eyes widened in horror. She turned around to face him, shook her head frantically, and cried, "No! No explosions!"

Too late. The kiss of death had already been placed. It was only after the motorcycle exploded and everyone let out their initial cries of fear, surprise, and horror that everything finally become silent. "This wasn't the type of peace and quiet that I had in mind," Vietnam inwardly wailed.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, what do you guys think? Did I manage to keep everyone in character?


	4. A Debt is Made?

After a tow truck took Vietnam and her motorcycle away, each and every member of the crowd slowly went their separate ways. In Ukraine and Hungary's case, they were going home, but as they were doing this, they couldn't help but notice that they were being followed. After a few failed attempts to catch their supposed stalker red-handed, they finally agreed to turn around at the same time, survey the area behind them a little bit, appear as if they were going to resume their trek home, and then quickly look back, hopefully to catch their stalker off guard. It worked and, to their surprise, discovered that their supposed stalker was none other than Belarus, who was trying in vain to find a last minute hiding place despite the fact that it was fairly obvious that she had been spotted.

Ukraine smiled, unshed tears of joy forming at the corners of her eyes. "Belarus!" she cried as she ran towards her embarrassed little sister and wrapped her in a big, warm hug, much to Belarus' chagrin, who was doing all she could to get out of her older sister's grasp. Despite her older sister's fragile persona, Belarus had to admit that she had one heck of a grip.

"Get off of me!" Belarus cried, her voice muffled for a second time that day due to Ukraine's large breasts.

"Oh!" Ukraine cried, her eyes widening, her face giving off a slight reddish tint. She immediately released her sister and wailed, "Forgive me, sister! I forgot that my chest was capable of suffocating someone to death! How stupid of me! I should've learned my lesson the first time!"

"Yeah, you should have," Belarus grumbled after successfully returning air back into her lungs.

Hungary walked up to them and gave Belarus an irritated look while placing her hands angrily on her hips. "Why on earth would you follow us if all you're going to do is make Uku feel bad about herself and make me want to punch you in the face every time you do?"

"Hun-dear!"

"What?! I'm just saying it like it is!" Hungary turned her attention back to Ukraine's little sister. "So? What've you got to say for yourself?"

"Why don't you mind your own business you… you…," Belarus took a moment to come up with the best possible insult, "rotten gorilla woman!"

"Hey!" Hungary cried, blushing furiously. (She was blushing over the "rotten" part, not the "gorilla" part, she had come to terms with the fact that she was probably more of a boy than a girl compared to the other female nations.) "I'm not rotten! And besides, we have every right to call the police on you, you know! With this little stunt you just pulled, we could charge you for stalking!"

Belarus dismissed the threat with an arrogant wave of her hand. "Please, what an empty threat! You wouldn't do that to," she clasped her hands together and gave Hungary an expression that clearly and mockingly feigned innocence, "Uku's beloved little sister would you?" She flashed Hungary an arrogant and knowing smile. "Because if you did, it would no doubt crush her heart into a million, little pieces." After taking a moment to rethink what she had just said, Belarus shrugged and added, "On second thought, go ahead. It would save me the trouble of doing it myself."

Hungary was fuming at this point. "For your information, Uku isn't THAT fragile! She'd live. And she'd live a heck of a lot better without you always bringing her down like you always do! And besides," she grabbed a surprised Ukraine's wrist and pulled Ukraine towards her, "even if she couldn't cope, she always has me, and we both know that I'm more of a sister to her than you are!" She grinned, and added, "Besides, being put in jail would hurt you a lot more than it'd hurt her."

Belarus folded her arms and raised a suspicious eyebrow at her adversary. "And why would that be?" she asked cautiously.

Hungary grinned arrogantly. "Because," she said, "why would your," she clasped her hands together and gave Belarus an expression that clearly and mockingly feigned innocence, "precious big brother Russia," she placed her hands arrogantly on her hips, "want to be with someone who has a criminal record?"

Belarus's eyes widened. "No…."

Hungary let out a triumphant chuckle. "Oh yes."

Belarus quickly walked up to Hungary and got in her face. "You wouldn't dare!" she seethed.

Hungary stuck her tongue out. "I wouldn't… if you tell us why you were following us."

Immediately, Belarus realized that she was trapped. "What should I do?" she thought frantically. "I don't want to tell them, but if I don't, that rotten woman is going to get me in jail, and then big brother Russia would never look at me the same way again!"

Her mind raced. "That's it!" she thought. "I don't need to tell them the ACTUAL reason, I just need to give them an answer that's believable and that'll take the focus off of me!" Her mind raced frantically once again. "I got it!"

She averted her eyes away from Ukraine and Hungary and answered, "If you must know, I wanted to see if you were going to repay the debt or not."

Ukraine and Hungary looked at each other, surprised. "What debt?" Hungary asked.

Ukraine shrugged. "I don't know."

Belarus released an annoyed huff. "You of all people should know, sister."

"But I don't!" Ukraine cried.

"Hmph. Bewitching AND irresponsible."

"What debt?!"

"Forgetful too, considering that it only happened a few minutes ago."

"WHAT DEBT?!" Ukraine wailed, running up to her sister and placing her hands on Belarus's shoulders, unable to take the suspense. "Please little sister, you have to tell me!" She was so upset that she was even uncontrollably shaking her.

"Alright alright, I'll tell you!" Belarus cried as Ukraine shook her back and forth. "Just… get your filthy hands off me!" As Ukraine complied, Belarus dusted herself off and answered, "Your debt to Vietnam, you idiot!"

Hungary and Ukraine still looked confused. "Uku's debt to Vietnam?" Hungary repeated as she tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What debt?"

"The debt for completely pulverizing Vietnam's motorcycle!" Belarus answered, annoyed by all of the dumb questions her sister and her friend were asking. Honestly, how could they not get it by now?

"But I already apologized to Vietnam for that!" Ukraine said. "And she said that it was okay!"

Belarus folded her arms knowingly. "Well yes, of course, but once she gets that bill, she's going to want you to pay for it. It was because of those gigantic boulders of yours that it got completely destroyed in the first place."

"B-But I'm dirt poor!" Ukraine cried. "Can't she pay for the damages herself?"

"Actually, I think she isn't any better financially than you are Uku," Hungary said.

"Exactly," Belarus said, pointing an accusing finger at Ukraine. "And when she finds out that she can't pay the bill, she's going to demand that YOU pay for it instead!"

"But I told you! I'm dirt poor!" Ukraine wailed.

"Don't worry Uku," Hungary said gently, trying to comfort her friend. "If that happens, then I'll definitely help you pay!"

To her surprise, Ukraine shook her head. "That's very kind of you Hun-dear, but if it's MY debt then it's MY responsibility to pay for it."

"Good," Belarus said. "Then I don't have to worry about you using those male-hypnotizing knockers of yours to convince big brother to pay it for you."

"So that's why you followed us?" Hungary asked. "To make sure that Ukraine was going to pay the entire debt?"

Belarus thought about it for a moment before she finally nodded, and answered, "Y-Yeah. That's it."

Belarus's response seemed a bit fishy to Hungary, but before she could say anything about it, Ukraine gave her little sister a soft, reassuring smile, and said, "Don't worry little sister. Your big sister's a big girl. She can take care of her own debts." She then looked down and weakly murmured, "Even though she is dirt poor."

"Then stop mentioning how 'dirt poor' you are!" Belarus screamed.

"For once, your sister's right Uku," Hungary said. "If you want help paying the debt then just say you want help. There's no point in acting strong if it doesn't do you any good!"

Ukraine was clearly surprised by her friend's unsupportive statement. "B-But I'm not trying to act strong!" She then reconsidered what she just said, slightly blushed, looked down, and sheepishly played with her fingers. "O-Okay, so maybe I AM trying to act a little strong," she looked at Hungary, "but it's not that type of act!" She looked back down again, and quietly added, "It's just… this feels like something I have to do myself."

Hungary sighed, and said, "I'm sorry Uku, but… I just can't let you do that."

Ukraine looked up at her friend in shock. Even Belarus couldn't believe her ears, her eyes widening a bit from genuine surprise. "W-What?" Ukraine asked.

Hungary shook her head sadly and explained, "A general would never let an inexperienced soldier out into battle, not unless all other options were taken away from them." She looked at Ukraine, her unhappiness evident in her eyes. "I'm sorry Uku, but as your friend, I just can't let you do this all by yourself."

"B-But," unshed tears were forming at the corners of Ukraine's eyes, "why?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way Uku," Hungary pleaded, "but… you've never really given me a reason to believe otherwise."

"W-What do you mean?" Ukraine asked.

"Uku, I know that you're a big girl and all, but… you're just… not assertive enough."

Ukraine took a moment to let those words sink in. "I'm… not assertive enough?" she repeated.

"I'm sorry Uku, but that's the truth."

"No it isn't! I'm very assertive!" Ukraine insisted.

Hungary sighed. She didn't want to have to do this, but it looked like she was going to have to prove her point. "Fine Uku," she said in a steady and even voice. "Then tell me: how are you going to pay the debt?"

Ukraine was about to explain just that, but immediately stopped herself once she realized that she DIDN'T have a plan to repay the said debt. She desperately tried to come up with a plan, but all she sadly drew were blanks.

"Um… well… there's… ah…," she said.

After a few more seconds of this, Belarus finally couldn't take it anymore. "I've got an idea for you sister," she snapped. "Why don't you put your boobs on sale?"

Ukraine gasped, an intense blush spreading across her face. "W-What?!" she cried. She was obviously shocked by the mere mention of such an absurd idea, but she was even more shocked by the fact that her very own little sister had been the one to suggest such an idea.

Belarus nodded. "Yeah. You could charge money to let people see them. Extra if they want to cop a feel."

Ukraine couldn't believe her ears. "B-B-B-B-But that's indecent!" she squealed. She quickly turned to Hungary. "Right Hun-dear?"

But instead of her immediately answering Ukraine's obvious plea for support, Hungary was solemnly and thoughtfully eyeing Ukraine's chest, holding and scratching her chin with one hand while supporting the elbow of said hand with the other. She was apparently seriously considering the plan Belarus had put forth on the nonexistent table. "They ARE extremely desirable among the males," Hungary mumbled to herself. "And with how soft and bouncy they look, maybe even some of the FEMALES might want a feel."

Ukraine gasped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and from her best friend no less! "Hun-dear, you can't be serious!" she cried, unshed tears forming at the corner of her eyes at the thought of the mere possibility that her best friend and little sister might just force her into going along with such a crazy scheme.

Upon hearing her best friend's cry of agony, Hungary, just now realizing how ridiculous that particular plan was, lightly blushed, stepped back, held her hands up, signaling for her friend to calm down, weakly laughed, and said, "Okay okay, we won't make you do that, I promise!" Ukraine let out a sigh of relief while Hungary quickly regained her composure. "But that just goes to show how little you've moved from square one Uku," she anxiously stated. "You still don't have any plan of action!"

Realizing that her friend was right and desperately wanting to prove her wrong, Ukraine let out a surprised, "Oh, that's right!" and immediately started racking her brain for ideas. When one finally came to her, she joyfully smiled, snapped her fingers, and cried, "I've got it! I'll sell all of the vegetables in my garden!" Immediately after she said that however, she realized the biggest flaw in that plan. "Wait, no… I can't do that; if I do that, then what will I eat?!"

Belarus released an angry and annoyed huff. "With breasts like that, I'm sure you could find something."

"Why do you always accuse Uku of using her breasts to get whatever she wants?" Hungary angrily demanded.

"Because she herself admitted to doing it all the time back when we were young!" Belarus angrily answered.

"But all those times were just for self-defense!" Ukraine argued.

"Oh, so that's how it is," Hungary said teasingly, folding her arms and giving Ukraine a little smirk.

"But I'm telling you guys the truth!" Ukraine cried, a light blush spreading across her face. She turned to Hungary, pleading with her eyes and facial expression to change the subject.

Hungary let out a small giggle, which she covered using the back of her hand, clapped her hands and said, "Okay, okay, let's get back to business you two."

Belarus gasped. "Business?! What business?!" She pointed an accusing finger at Ukraine. "This whole mess is Double-D's problem, not mine!" She gasped again as she was hit by a sudden, surprising revelation. "I can't believe this! I've been helping you this entire time!" She quickly and menacingly walked up to Ukraine (with the surprising type of speed you'd only find in horror movies), brought her face dangerously close to Ukraine's, gave her a glare that would send shivers down even the bravest of souls, and angrily hissed, "You bewitching older sister! Somehow you've hypnotized me into helping you come up with a plan to pay the debt that is rightfully your responsibility to begin with!"

Ukraine took a fearful step back, laughed weakly, and raised her hands up in an attempt to calm down her furious little sister. "S-Sorry?"

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Belarus cried. "From this point on, I'm not helping you!" She folded her arms and angrily looked away, letting out an angry huff as she made her point.

"That's too bad," Hungary said. "Your plan was the only one that seemed even remotely possible." She may hate the way Belarus always treated her sister, but she was at least man enough to admit that they had just lost a valuable asset to the team. She looked at Ukraine with an uneasy look on her face. "Now what?"

Ukraine thought for a moment, and, once she finally had some sort of semblance of an actual plan, took a deep breath, walked up to the edge of the sidewalk, held out her arm and extended her thumb upwards.

Hungary and Belarus exchanged shocked and confused looks. Belarus was so shocked in fact, that her shock had overpowered the personal oath of silence she had just made for herself, and asked, "Um, what the heck do you think you are doing Melon Patch?"

Ukraine, just now realizing how ridiculous she looked, gasped, blushed, looked over to her friend and sister, smiled, and explained, "Well, I was thinking, since I don't have any real game plan yet, I might as well try to talk Vietnam out of giving me a debt in the first place. I mean, there's no harm in trying, right?"

Hungary shrugged. "I guess, but," she pointed Ukraine, "that doesn't exactly explain what you're doing right now."

Ukraine smiled reassuringly to her best friend. "I'm hitchhiking," she answered simply.

"Hitchhiking?!"

Ukraine frowned. "Is there something wrong with that?" she asked innocently.

Hungary quickly shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just," she observed how surreally calm and relaxed Ukraine was, "…how often do you do this Uku?"

Ukraine smiled. "Every day."

"Every day?!"

Ukraine nodded. "Well, it's not like I can afford a ride to school," she explained absentmindedly. "And besides," she gave her friend another calm and reassuring smile, "it's not so bad."

"Really?"

Ukraine nodded. "Believe it or not, it's actually pretty easy; and everyone I've rode with has always been so nice to me."

"With knockers like those, I bet they have been," Belarus muttered. "Bet they were all male too."

Hungary, happening to hear what Ukraine's little sister had just said, angrily cleared her throat, and said, "I'll take your word for it Uku, but if you needed a ride, why didn't you ask me for one? I would've been more than happy to do it for you Uku."

Ukraine gasped, blushed and stuttered, "W-Well, it's just…."

Just then, somebody had pulled over, pulled down a window, and asked, "You need a ride lady?" As expected from Belarus, the driver was male.

"Yes!" Ukraine said, and just as quickly as she had said that, she went into the car and fastened her seatbelt. "Take me to Vietnam's house," she cried, and before the driver had a chance to argue, Ukraine pointed down the road and added, "now!"

A little freaked out by Ukraine's sudden demand and how desperately she seemed to want to leave, the driver fearfully complied and, just like that, they drove off, leaving a shocked and confused Hungary to watch as they eventually faded away from view. Once they did, Belarus walked up to Hungary and asked, "Not that I expect you to know or anything, but does my idiot sister even know where Vietnam lives?"

Hungary, realizing that Belarus had yet again made a very good point, could only laugh weakly in response, which was more than enough to give Belarus the answer she had requested for.

* * *

Author's Note: Merry belated Christmas guys! Here's your belated Christmas present for the year! Hope you liked it! :D


	5. The True Meeting

It was nighttime, and Vietnam was sitting on the wooden settee in her living room, taking a much needed break after finally finishing all of her homework for tomorrow by taking another crack at that video game she won back at America's Halloween costume contest, _Uncharted 3_, when the room suddenly got noticeably colder. Pausing her game (which she, sadly, failed to make any real progress on), she walked up to the thermometer on the wall and let out a yelp in surprise. The temperature had indeed dropped, but far too much for a normal night like this. It'd make sense if it was snowing or raining outside, but how could it, when there hadn't been a cloud in the sky all day?

Then, Vietnam heard it, the surplus number of raindrops tapping mercilessly against the windows of her house. Vietnam gently wrapped her arms around her, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled just as heavily. She was meditating, allowing herself to just let go and unwind, letting Mother Nature's unique melody envelope her as it played.

After a minute or so of listening, Vietnam realized just how loud the rain was. She walked up to and looked out of one of her windows. It was raining pretty hard, and it was obviously in its later stages, so why hadn't she heard it until now? Vietnam thought for a moment, and then looked at the case intended to house her game's disc, picked it up, looked at the case's cover art, sighed, and said, "You're probably more trouble than you're worth," to it, gently set it back on the coffee table in front of her settee, saved her progress, turned the PlayStation 3 off, put the disc back into its case, and put it back in the closet in her room, where she usually put it, considering how little she played with it and all.

Once she finished cleaning up, Vietnam went back into her living room to admire her handiwork. Sure, cleaning up after one's self was never an impressive feat, but after visiting Taiwan's house once and seeing just how messy and cluttered a house could get, Vietnam had a new appreciation for tidy, simple, living quarters, so much in fact, that she had completely redesigned her living room to just having a wooden settee with tan seat cushions and complimentary pillows against the wall in the living room with a window that, when it was sunny outside and the yellow curtains were drawn back, would practically light up the entire room all by itself, a polished, brown coffee table, two simple, brown, wooden chairs with tan seat cushions, and a brown, wooden table where her T.V. sat. With Taiwan's help, she had given the walls of her living room a fresh coat of white paint and opted to give her floor smooth, light brown floorboards. Taiwan had complained that her living room was too simple and boring, but she had to admit, the change had been extremely refreshing. And it wasn't to say that she gotten rid of all the stuff that used to be there, she simply stored it away until she needed it.

Shivering a little from how cold it was starting to get, instead of turning on the heater, Vietnam opted to make herself a batch of Vietnamese hot coffee to warm her up instead. After quickly making a batch and pouring herself a cup, she took a sip and gave it time to sink in and refreshingly warm her insides. She sighed and smiled to herself. Now this, this was life. She never knew why she was always so shy in public, but if she had to take a guess, it was probably because she was always somewhat afraid of what other people would've thought of her. After all, whenever she and Taiwan did what she wanted to do, Taiwan would always tease her about how she was getting old and thus having such a boring lifestyle and hobbies, and would always try to coax her into doing more activities that were more exciting, bold and fun. Taiwan was a good friend and all, despite their differences, and Vietnam could see where she was coming from, after all, having fun and being bold were never bad things, but it just made Vietnam a little more insecure about herself each and every time Taiwan succeeded in innocently dragging her into something, so whenever she had the chance to truly be herself, relax, and take a break from all of the chaos her life seemed to constantly bring her, she took it, but it was usually when nobody else was around, which also bothered her. After all, she didn't want to be thought of as antisocial, and there were times when she DID feel kind of lonely, not to mention the fact that moments like these were always better off shared.

After the initial sip, she walked up to the window above the settee and pulled the curtain back a bit to reveal a glimpse of the heavy rainfall pouring down from the night sky. Vietnam raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wow, it's really coming down," she mused. "But how is that even possible? There was barely a cloud in the sky before."

* * *

"Yes! Yes!" Romania cried, laughing and placing his hands on England's shoulders and shaking him gleefully. "We did it!" He stretched out his hands and gestured towards his window, which showed the two male nations the rain that they had successfully conjured up. "We made it rain!"

England cleared his throat and, with an arrogant smile, shook his head as he wagged his index finger at his friend and said, "Actually, the correct term for this particular situation would be 'conjure'. We 'conjured up' rain."

Romania immediately stopped celebrating, looked at England, smirked, and slowly and knowingly asked in a low, solemn, yet highly skeptical voice, "Really?"

England folded his arms and smiled, trying desperately to look as professional and as gentleman-like as possible, but in the end, the smile turned into a playful smirk, his shoulders shook, and his face turned red from trying to keep all of his excitement and joy bottled up. "Of course not you bloody git!" he cried, jumping happily into the air and laughing and hugging Romania uncontrollably. "We did it! We did it!"

Romania joyfully laughed and hugged England back and they both cried, "We made it rain!"

They both let go of each other, and, with a wild look in his eye, Romania shouted, "Let's make it rain some more!"

England laughed. "Now you're talking!"

They looked towards the window and chanted, "Let it rain, life's insane, like a boat and a candy cane! Let it rain, life's insane, like a boat and a candy cane! Let it rain, life's insane, like a boat and a candy cane! Let it rain, life's insane, like a boat and a candy cane!" And with each passing chant, the rain fell harder and harder, much to the joy of the only two members of W Academy's Magic Club, who celebrated their accomplishment until they could celebrate no more, eventually having no choice but to stop and catch their breath.

Romania looked outside to lovingly admire their work. "That's a lot of rain," he said absentmindedly.

England sighed out of self-satisfaction. "Yeah." They both took another moment to silently admire their handiwork. "That really is a lot of rain," England mused, frowning uneasily.

Romania smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

"…That really is a lot of rain."

"…Yeah."

"No you bloody idiot!" England angrily cried. "I mean that seriously is a lot of rain!" He began pulling his hair out of panic. "We need to put a stop to this right now!"

"Alright, alright!" Romania said, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm down his fellow club member. "Don't worry! All we have to do is find the spell that'll reverse all of this and BOOM! Everything is A-Okay!"

England slowly nodded as Romania's reassurances slowly started to sink in. "Right… you're right… okay," he clasped his hands together and looked around, "so… where's the spell that'll reverse all of this?"

Romania went to go fetch the book where they had found the rain spell. "It SHOULD be the spell right after the rain spell." England looked through the book, his eyes slowly starting to widen as he did so. "What?" Romania asked. "What is it?"

England shook his head. "It's not here!" he cried out incredulously.

Romania's eyes widened. "What?!"

"It's not bloody here! The spell that's supposed to reverse this whole goddamn thing isn't in here!" England angrily slammed the book into the ground. "What type of bloody author would write how to do a spell without also writing how to undo the spell once it's been cast?!"

Romania quickly picked up the book and reopened it. "Let me see." After frantically searching through the entire book twice, he found that England was indeed right. The spell that was supposed to reverse the rain spell wasn't there. Romania and England exchanged panic-filled looks, anxiously looked out the window showcasing the intense rain they had just conjured up, looked behind them to see Romania's extensive collection of spell books either stacked up in tall piles on the floor or messily arranged or squeezed in place on the bookshelves, before looking at each other again. Romania queasily said, "We've got a lot of reading to do."

* * *

Vietnam's head whipped around as she heard a knock at her front door. "A visitor?" she thought. She took one last curious glance back at the heavy rain pouring outside her window. "In this weather?" She gently placed her cup down on the coffee table and ran to the door. Once she opened the door, she was greeted with the presence of a shivering and completely drenched Ukraine.

Vietnam was surprised to say the least, and in all honesty, why shouldn't she have been? After today's incident (which Vietnam was just about ready to forget, mind you), even if they didn't know each other before, they obviously knew each other now, but when you got right down to it, they weren't exactly close, at least not enough to know each other's home addresses, so why was she here?

Ukraine's visit was so unexpected in fact, that Vietnam had pretty much turned into a deer in the headlights, staring at the fellow female nation in shock as she stood at her doorstep, unable to say anything except a soft, flabbergasted, "Ukraine."

Despite how cold she was, Ukraine did her best to muster up a kind, warm smile. "V-Viet-d-dear," she said, obviously trying her best to give the female nation a warm greeting despite how much she was shivering.

The strange salute was enough to break Vietnam out of her stupor. Shaking her head to further rid her of her trance, she blushed a little and asked, "Do you want to come in?" She immediately blushed harder after realizing just how stupid she that particular question sounded. "What am I saying?" she thought. "Of course she wants to come inside! It's raining cats and dogs out here!" Her eyes quickly surveyed the area behind Ukraine. "And it doesn't look like she has a ride to take her back home either. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Despite Vietnam's inner self-chastisement, Ukraine seemed to be taking Vietnam's uncertainty astonishingly well, probably because she had expected such a reaction from such an unexpected visit. "Y-Y-Yes," she said, nodding slowly as she tried to control her teeth from chattering too much. "Thank you V-V-Viet-dear."

After Vietnam let her in, Vietnam took one last look around outside and anxiously and cautiously asked, "So, um, not that I mind you being here and all, you've always seemed nice, at least to me, but… how exactly did you get here? I mean, there are parking spots outside, but I don't think I see your ride, and with all due respect, I don't think I've ever given you my address before."

Ukraine looked up from twisting her clothes in an attempt to squeeze out all of the water they had managed to absorb during her walk from the sidewalk to the door, and simply answered, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm far too poor to afford any type of transportation, so I just hitchhike everywhere."

Vietnam's eyes widened in surprise. "Y-You… hitchhiked here?" she asked in disbelief.

Ukraine simply nodded, apparently oblivious to Vietnam's apparent disbelief. "Yes, and usually it's not so bad, but today… today…," unshed tears were forming at the corner of her eyes, "today was… absolutely terrible!" For the first time today, Ukraine couldn't hold it in anymore. Ukraine started to cry, and Vietnam, at a loss of what to do, could only stare dumbfounded as Ukraine slowly became a blubbering mess right in front of her.

"What should I do?" Vietnam thought. "This has never happened to me before!"

For a long time, Vietnam didn't do or say anything, she was too afraid to, and just when she finally DID have the courage to do something, Ukraine had suddenly regained her composure and quickly explained, "I started hitchhiking with this one guy, but when I told him to go to Vietnam's house, he apparently didn't know what I meant, so he drove me to the airport, and when I asked him why he took me to the airport, he said that I wanted him to drive me to Vietnam, so now all I needed to do was buy a ticket to Vietnam and a plane could take me there, and then I told him that I didn't want to go to Vietnam THE COUNTRY, I wanted to go to Vietnam THE PERSONIFCATION OF THE NATION'S house, but I guess he didn't know what I was talking about because he started looking at me all funny and then he told me to get out of his car, and once I did, he drove away!"

She took a couple of deep breaths, and continued, "And after that, I had to wait until somebody else would let me hitchhike with them, and, me being at an airport and all, there weren't that many people who would let me, which I understand, because they're trying to make sure that there's enough room in their cars for the people they ARE picking up or they look at me and think I'm waiting for the person who's supposed to pick ME up, not knowing that I wasn't a passenger on a plane, so after an hour or so, I started walking away from the airport thinking maybe I'd have better luck hitchhiking AWAY from the airport, and eventually I did find someone who would let me ride with them and I told them that I wanted to go to Vietnam THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE NATION'S house, and he said that that was on the way to where he was heading so he agreed to quickly drop me off when we got there, so when we did, I got out of the car and he drove away, but when I looked around, I noticed that he hadn't dropped me off here, he had dropped me off in front of a restaurant named 'Vietnam's Home Away from Home'!"

She took another couple of deep breaths and continued, "I didn't know what to do at first, so I just walked inside, and when I did, the owner came up to me and asked how many people were going to dine with me tonight, and I said that I was just trying to find the house of someone named Vietnam, and then he said he thought he knew who I was talking about and described you and I was all like, 'You know her?!' and he told me that you came to his restaurant once with a girl named Taiwan and that he once convinced you to sponsor his restaurant for him, so I asked him if he could give me your address, and he said that he'd take me there himself once his cashier came back from her errand, so I waited, but it took her a WHOLE HOUR to come back because it apparently got complicated or something, so when he finally did start driving me to your house traffic was terrible, so it took even longer to get here and when we finally did get here, it was already nighttime and when he dropped me off in front of your house, he suggested that he stay there in case you weren't home, but I was like, 'Oh, don't worry! I'll just wait for her to come home if that happens!' and so he drove away and I was just about to walk to your house when it suddenly started raining and when I took cover under a tree the rain only got worse, so I decided to tough it out and run to your house, but a car quickly drove by and there was apparently a puddle there, so when it drove by I was completely drenched, but I kept running up to your house, only to realize that I had accidentally mistook the house across from yours for being your house, which was really embarrassing, but I decided to suck it up and run back, only for the rain to get worse and another car to drive by and splash me a SECOND time, and now I'm here and… and…," she looked down at the puddle she was unwittingly making in the middle of Vietnam's living room, "and now I'm making a big mess in the middle of your living room!" She started crying again, and Vietnam, unwittingly repeating what had happened mere moments before, could only stare at her, unable to do anything out of shock and fear.

Once again finding some courage to confront the sobbing Ukraine, Vietnam took a cautious step forward and slowly asked, "So… um…," she took a moment to reconsider what she was about to say, "do you want to…," she shrugged, "get out of those clothes Ukraine?" Ukraine stopped crying and gave her a curious look. Vietnam blushed a little, averted her eyes away from the well-endowed nation, and quickly explained, "I-I mean, you could take a shower if you want to. I already took a shower today and I've got some extra towels, so it's definitely possible; and while you're doing that, I could wash and dry your clothes for you, y-you know, if you'd like…."

"Stupid!" Vietnam thought as she blushed harder and harder with each passing second Ukraine wasn't saying anything in response to her offer. "Why'd you have to say it like that?! She probably thinks you want to catch a glimpse of her naked or rub your face in her clothes or something! Ugh!"

Contrary to Vietnam's belief however, Ukraine took the offer surprisingly well, in fact, she seemed so overjoyed by Vietnam's gesture of kindness that she ran up to her, almost hugged her, stopped herself just in time, blushed, but smiled, and said, "Thank you Viet-dear! I'd really appreciate that!" She then stopped, and bashfully added, "Y-You know, if it won't be too much of a bother."

Vietnam gasped, quickly shook her head and raised her hands up, waving them from side to side in an attempt to ease some of Ukraine's doubts and reaffirm her own offer. "N-No! It's nothing! Nothing at all!" She tried to give Ukraine a kind, reassuring smile, but by the weird look on Ukraine's face, she knew she had failed miserably.

Despite the weird look Vietnam had on her face, Ukraine thought nothing of it. Instead, she smiled warmly, and said, "If you say so."

She then started walking towards the bathroom, but before she could even take her third step, Vietnam said, "Um… Ukraine?"

Ukraine turned around. "Yes?"

Vietnam pointed in the opposite direction Ukraine was going. "The bathroom's that way," Vietnam answered in a soft voice.

Ukraine's blushed furiously. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Here you are, being so nice to me, and here I am acting as if I own the place!"

Seeing unshed tears forming at the corner of Ukraine's eyes and not wanting her guest to cry in her house for the third time tonight, Vietnam quickly tried to calm her down. "T-That's okay. Here, let me show you where the bathroom is."

Vietnam then led her to the bathroom, and her unexpected guest, careful not to get anything else in Vietnam's house wet except for the floor, followed her as carefully and as quickly as she could. When they finally got there, Ukraine went inside to take off her wet and dirty clothes as Vietnam went to go fetch a spare towel for Ukraine to use. They made the exchange as carefully as they could. Vietnam was careful not to see a possibly undressed Ukraine, and Ukraine was careful not to drop her pile of wet clothes on the floor and not to lean forward too much when trying to pass Vietnam her wet clothes, because she knew that if she did, the weight of her chest would push her forward, make her tumble out of the bathroom and unintentionally reveal her body to who she could practically consider a stranger. Fortunately for the both of them, the exchange went off without a hitch, and as Ukraine took her shower, Vietnam went right to work, dutifully cleaning up whatever mess Ukraine's mere soaked presence had made, properly putting Ukraine's clothes into the washing machine, and thoughtfully going to her closet to find some spare, temporary clothes for Ukraine to wear until her clothes had been properly washed and dried.

Once Ukraine was done with her shower and was given the clothes intended to temporarily cover her until her own clothes were finished getting cleaned up and dried off, she cried, "Viet-dear? Vietnam?!"

Vietnam rushed to the bathroom and asked, "Yes?"

For a long time, Ukraine didn't answer. Instead, she opted to slowly open the door and make her way out of Vietnam's bathroom, head hung low with a guilty look on her face. Once Vietnam took a closer look at her, her eyes widened in surprise. Ukraine had definitely complied with wearing Vietnam's attire, which were a pair of tan dress pants and a yellow, button-down shirt… which was precisely the problem. Apparently, Vietnam's yellow, button-down shirt was a little too small to conceal Ukraine's well-endowed chest, as it was barely being held back, as evident by the terrible state Vietnam's shirt was currently in, buttons missing and wrinkles visibly left behind as evidence to Ukraine's vain attempts to force the gap revealing much of her chest to close.

After mustering enough courage to look at Vietnam again, Ukraine sheepishly shuffled her feet, and whimpered, "Do you… have anything more my size?"

Vietnam placed her fingers on her forehead and rubbed her temples as the two female nations blushed due to the awkwardness of their situation. "Oh dear…."

* * *

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sadly, my break's almost over, so don't expect any updates for this story in a while. Sorry guys. :(


	6. A Bond is Formed?

"Ah," Ukraine and Vietnam both said upon taking a sip of the homemade coffee Vietnam had prepared.

"You were absolutely right, Viet-dear!" Ukraine gushed. "Freshly made coffee during a rainy day such as this really is the best!"

Vietnam nodded her head in agreement. "It is, isn't it?" she mused quietly to herself as the two female nations took another sip. When she saw that Ukraine had already finished her cup and was disappointingly looking into it, a small and amused smile appeared on her lips before she stood up and asked, "Would you like another cup?"

Ukraine let out a tiny gasp of surprise. "R-Really?" She then raised her hands and frantically started to wave them as she shook her head. "Oh no, Viet-dear! You shouldn't have to take care of little old me! Especially after how I came here uninvited and all!"

Vietnam nodded as she calmly took Ukraine's cup and began making her way to the kitchen. "True, but considering the fact that this is my house and that I always find it a bit rude for a host to not take care of their guests, especially when their guests so obviously want something and are too polite to ask for it themselves, I unfortunately have to insist."

Ukraine watch Vietnam in awe as she prepared another batch of coffee with a certain amount of grace that Ukraine had never thought possible, especially when associated with the simple task of brewing homemade coffee. "She seemed so shy at first," Ukraine thought. "But after she had gotten used to me and gotten over how strange this whole situation was, she talks and treats me as if we've been friends for ages. Perhaps this is what Hun-dear meant when she wanted me to adopt a more assertive personality?" Ukraine dejectedly hung her head. "Is that even possible for someone as lowly and pathetic as I am?"

"Coffee's ready," Vietnam announced warmly.

Ukraine snapped back from her thoughts and smiled as she took her cup. "Thank you, Viet-dear. You really shouldn't have."

Vietnam simply shrugged. "Maybe," she admitted, "but drinking coffee while it's raining is a bit better when it's with somebody else, don't you think?"

Ukraine nodded. "Yes, it certainly is, isn't it?" She then giggled. "Oh, listen to us! We sound like a pair of old women, don't we?"

Vietnam thought it over for a bit before she blushed lightly and had a small giggle escape from her lips as well. "Yes, I guess we do. Then again, I guess the two of us ARE a bit up there in years."

Ukraine giggled once more before holding up her cup playfully and saying, "Then a toast, to us elderly women! May the whipper-snappers finally start listening to us one of these days!"

Vietnam chuckled before following suit. "To us elderly women!"

"To us elderly women!" they both cried as they gently hit their cups against one another and took another long and relaxing sip of their coffee before letting out a refreshing sigh and laugh at the end of it all.

Vietnam then looked outside her window and frowned. "Wow, it's still raining pretty hard out there, huh?"

Ukraine followed Vietnam's gaze and nodded solemnly. "Yes, it is." She then placed her hands into her hair and began to comb through it frantically. "Oh!" she wailed, unshed tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Why didn't I just wait until tomorrow to ask you about paying you back for the motorcycle damages like a normal person?!"

Vietnam's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing what the well-endowed nation had just revealed. "W-Wait a minute! Is that why you came to see me today? To pay for the motorcycle damages?"

Ukraine nodded her head frantically. "Yes! My dearest little sister, Belarus, pointed out to me that someone doing as poorly financially as you probably wouldn't be able to afford paying for the repairs all by yourself, so in order to pay my debt to you for accidentally wrecking your bike with my gigantic knockers, I came by so that I could get it over with and before it could grow out of hand, because I too am not doing very well financially!" She then grabbed Vietnam's shoulders, much to the poor nation's surprise, and cried, "So please, just tell me how much I need to pay you back, and I'll see if we can work out something out with my boss! Just please don't put me in debt! I'm horrible when it comes to managing my money!" She then broke down and began to cry her eyes out like a baby, burying her face into Vietnam's chest as she did.

Vietnam was at a loss for words. She hated to admit it, but she had always been a girl who could get easily flustered, and that was exactly what was happening now. The sight of an adult nation breaking down so easily before her and the almost incomprehensible story that was supposed to explain why this particular breakdown was taking place, as well as the unexpectedness of it all was too much for the poor girl to handle, which caused for her to lose her bearings and her thoughts to flutter uncontrollably as the blubbering nation continued to shed a multitude of tears onto her chest.

Vietnam cautiously placed a comforting hand on the back of Ukraine's head and began to slowly stroke it. "I-If you're worried about the expenses, then don't! I can pay for it all by myself, really!"

Ukraine looked up to reveal a messy face that all of her crying and frantic worrying had caused. "But your financial situation, Viet-dear!"

Vietnam nodded her head slowly. "Y-Yes, that's true, I'm not exactly swimming in money right now, but..."

Ukraine couldn't understand why Vietnam was hesitating to finish her sentence. "But?!"

Vietnam lightly blushed, before sheepishly mumbling, "I've... got motorcycle insurance."

Ukraine blinked. "W-What?" she squeaked.

Vietnam averted her eyes from Ukraine's horrified gaze. "I... have insurance." When Ukraine didn't say anything, Vietnam anxiously and apprehensively added, "I've done the math. I'm... I'm pretty sure it will cover all the damages." When Ukraine still did not say anything, Vietnam bravely asked, "Um, Miss Ukraine? A-Are you feeling alright?"

"Agh!" Ukraine wailed, clutching her head as she did. "Oh, how stupid of me! Of course someone who owns a motorcycle would have the insurance for it! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"N-Now wait! Hold on! There's nothing wrong with taking responsibility for your actions and being considerate of other people!"

"But I wasn't being considerate of other people!" Ukraine argued. "I was only thinking about myself and how it would affect me! And I originally wasn't going to take responsibility for my actions! My little sister, Belarus, had to tell me to!" She then buried her face into her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm such a selfish and inconsiderate person!"

"B-But," Vietnam looked around frantically as she racked her brain for anything that she could say to lift the depressed nation's spirits, "if you're self-aware, then how bad could you possibly be?"

"Stupid!" Vietnam inwardly reprimanded to herself. "What type of reassurance is that? You'll be lucky if she doesn't cry herself to death because of you!" She then shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. "No! Calm down, Vietnam! You can't afford to lose it either! At least calm her down!"

"And think about it like this," Vietnam sheepishly suggested, "it wasn't you who was too dumb to consider motorcycle insurance, it was your sister! Your sister was the one who suggested for you to come over and pay off a potential debt, right? So if it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be here in the first place."

"Idiot!" the voice inside her head cried. "What are you doing?!"

"I don't know!" she inwardly wailed back.

Surprisingly enough, Ukraine actually took what Vietnam had said better than most people would've. In fact, she almost seemed to become calmer because of it. Ukraine sniffled a bit before wiping a tear from one of her eyes and saying, "Then that just means Hun-dear and Belarus were right. I'm really AM unassertive!" She once again buried her face into her hands as she shook her head. "I am such a mess! How am I ever going to make friends and a better life for myself if I continue to be like this?"

Vietnam gave Ukraine a sympathetic look as she rubbed her back. "If… if it makes any difference to you... I don't think you're... THAT bad." Realizing how condescending that sounded, Vietnam mentally slapped herself and quickly added, "I-I mean, you don't seem THAT unassertive!" She slapped herself again.

Ukraine whimpered a bit before wiping her eyes and saying, "You don't have to be so polite, Viet-dear."

Vietnam firmly shook her head. "But I'm not." She then placed a hand over one of Ukraine's hands and gave it a firm, but reassuring squeeze. Vietnam took a deep breath and took a moment to gather her thoughts before softly stating, "If you ask me, it took a lot of assertiveness to come here at all, especially in spite of the weather and whether or not it was at someone else's urging or not. Because when you really think about it, isn't making the decision to listen to someone else its own type of assertiveness? Isn't making the conscious choice to follow someone else's lead or reasoning just as good as following one's own lead and reasoning? I mean, you're still making your own choice, right? You're following your own lead to follow someone else's. And even if you don't count that as being assertive, isn't not giving up to fulfill someone else's ideas and ideals a decision you and only you can make?" Ukraine let out a small gasp and looked back at Vietnam's tender gaze. "I can't speak for everyone, but to me, that's proof enough that you're plenty assertive." She then averted her eyes sheepishly and added, "Or, at least, assertive in your own little way."

"Viet-dear," Ukraine murmured.

"And as for your little friend and life situation," Vietnam calmly and softly continued, "I wouldn't worry too much about it." She gave Ukraine a small smile. "You seem like a grown woman who can take care of herself and make her own decisions. Your assertiveness will definitely show whenever you're in a pinch. After all, you've made it this far into your life, haven't you? You should already have all the tools you need to survive. All you need to do now is recognize that you have it, no matter what other people say, and you should be fine."

"Viet-dear," Ukraine whimpered in awe as freshly made tears of joy began to form at the corners of her eyes. Unfortunately for Vietnam, she would not be able to hold this particular crying fit in either. "Viet-dear!" Ukraine cried as she grabbed the surprised nation and hugged her out of joy, inadvertently suffocating her with her well-endowed chest as she did. "Oh, thank you, Viet-dear, thank you!" She released Vietnam from her unintentionally deadly embrace. "You are absolutely right!" She pumped up her fists enthusiastically. "I've made it this far into my life, who can say that I'm ill-fit to keep on effectively living it?" She then happily turned to Vietnam, grabbed her shoulders, and began to shake them excitedly. "Thank you for making me realize it, Viet-dear! Maybe now I can be a bit more confident in myself!" After realizing that Vietnam had been silent for quite a while now, Ukraine stopped impulsively shaking the other female nation and gave her a curious and concerned look. "Viet-dear? What's wrong? You've been awfully quiet all of a sudden. Is something the matter?"

Vietnam took a moment to get her bearings before wearily answering, "N-Nothing. Nothing's the matter."

Unfortunately for her, Ukraine immediately saw through her little ruse. "Don't lie to me, Viet-dear!" Ukraine cried out worriedly. "Something is definitely wrong with you!" Then, upon realizing Vietnam's head loosely leaning back, her slightly opened mouth, her painful groans, and her own hands still firmly holding onto Vietnam's shoulders, Ukraine quickly and horrifically realized what she had just done. "Oh no!" she cried, immediately taking her hands off of Vietnam and towards her as unshed tears of sadness once again threatened to fall down her face. "I'm such an inconsiderate fool! I was so wrapped up in my own emotions that I accidentally almost killed you with my shoulder shaking and my suffocating knockers!" She then once again buried her face into her hands out of great distress and embarrassment. "Oh! I really am hopeless!"

Once Vietnam had recovered from her unfortunately strange and unintentional torture session, she let out a small, exasperated sigh at the sight at the once more sobbing Ukraine. "She's a bit on the emotional side, but," Vietnam smiled a bit, "her heart is definitely in the right place about it... I think. And besides, I probably shouldn't be the one to judge. When you really think about it, she's just like me, only she's more willing to wear her emotions on her sleeve." She let out an amused chuckle. "In a weird way, I should probably be looking up to her."

She then wrapped an arm around Ukraine's shoulders and gave one of them a pat with her hand. "There there, it's alright. Just let it all out."

"Oh, Viet-dear!" Ukraine cried as she rose her head and turned to admiringly face her. "You are too kind! And you're also so cute and cool too!" She enthusiastically grabbed Vietnam's hands and held them up. "I could really learn a thing or two from you!"

Vietnam bashfully blushed. "C-Cool and... cute?" She averted her eyes to the side. "I... I'm flattered that you think that about me, but in all honesty I'm not really that cute or that cool, s-so -"

"Nonsense!" Ukraine kindly insisted. She maternally fixed a strand of Vietnam's hair before explaining, "You're a perfect example of a natural beauty! You look so cute, even when you're embarrassed!"

Vietnam let out a small, surprised gasp. "H-How would you know?!"

Ukraine let out a soft giggle as she smiled and answered, "I saw your picture on the school paper today. You looked so embarrassed! It made you look so endearing!"

"N-No! No, it didn't!" Vietnam sat forward, brought her knees up against her seat, laid her arms on them, and hid her face behind her arms and against her knees. "That photo was bad and everybody knows it," Vietnam mumbled from her hiding place. "I know for a fact that I'm not photogenic."

"Oh, stop that!" Ukraine gently chided. "You're plenty photogenic! You were just unlucky, that's all!"

Vietnam shook her head. "No, all of my pictures look like that," she replied glumly. "I'm never going to take another picture as long as I live."

Ukraine gave the distressed nation a sympathetic smile. She remembered when she felt like that about her chest. She had been so embarrassed by it that she had originally insisted on never leaving her home ever again. Childish, yes, especially when one would have to venture outside eventually, but she could tell that Vietnam was currently going through that same feeling, and at a time like this, there was only ever really one answer for it.

"Viet-dear," Ukraine began, placing a gentle hand over one of Vietnam's own, "how about I tell you some magic words, so that if it ever happens again and other people torment you about it, you'll be able to make them stop?"

Vietnam raised her head from behind her knees. "I suppose that could help," she admitted. "What are they?"

Ukraine smiled before closing her eyes and reciting, "If there are people who are causing you trouble..."

Vietnam nodded. "Yes?"

"And no matter what you say, they won't leave you alone..."

Vietnam leaned towards Ukraine. "Yeah."

Ukraine took a deep breath before finishing innocently, "Show them your milk makers!"

Vietnam blinked in confusion and stared at Ukraine in shock for a moment before jumping back, covering her chest with her arms, and crying out, with her entire face turning beat red, "W-What?!"

"Show them your milk makers!" Ukraine enthusiastically repeated.

Vietnam quickly shook her head. "N-No! T-That's impossible!"

"But it works."

"No! It's indecent!"

Realizing that perhaps the times have changed, Ukraine thought her advice over for a bit before nodding her head and instructing, "Alright, then do it in the metaphorical sense!"

"M-Metaphorical sense?!" Vietnam cautiously repeated.

Ukraine nodded. "Yes!" She the cupped Vietnam's face into her hands, earning a surprised gasp from her, and said, "Whether you believe it or not, Viet-dear, you really are a beautiful girl, you just need to acknowledge it more often and be more confident about it! So," she took her hands off of Vietnam's face and clenched her fists, "if you ever come across someone who is making fun of how you or a photo of yours looks, just hold your head up high, don't let it get to you so much, and flaunt it!

"B-But aren't you always embarrassed about your," she quickly glanced at Ukraine's chest, "you know!"

Ukraine blushed. "Well... yes, but only because I can never find the right bra or shirt for them. And, well, the fact that they make noise and that they can sometimes suffocate people, but otherwise, I'm not against them!" She then quickly muttered, "Even if they give me back pains."

"S-So what you're saying is that... instead of being embarrassed about it, I should just try... owning it?"

Ukraine nodded. "Yes! Exactly!" She then stood up and gently encouraged Vietnam to do the same. "Come on! Let's try it out!"

Vietnam sighed as she slowly got off her couch. "Fine," she muttered. "But I doubt that it's going to work for someone like me."

"That's the spirit!" Ukraine cheered. "Now, imagine someone making fun of that embarrassing photo you took!"

"O-Okay."

"Now imagine turning to him, placing your hands on your hips, and proudly sticking your chest out at him, like this!" As Ukraine demonstrated what she had instructed Vietnam to do, her chest let out a resounding "boing" as she did.

Vietnam blushed at the sound and sight of it, and was seriously considering backing out of this training exercise at the last minute before shaking her head, taking a deep breath, and forcing herself to do it anyway. "L-Like this?" Vietnam asked as she held her chest out, an embarrassed blush and uncomfortable smile covering her face as she did.

Ukraine clapped her hands as she nodded proudly. "Yes! Just like that!" She then cupped her face and gushed, "And your 'really trying' face is cute too! That settles it! Anyone who makes fun of how you look from now on will now have to face just how cute you really are!"

"Um, no offense, Ukraine, but does this method actually, um, work?" Vietnam asked, suspiciously eyeing Ukraine's chest as she did, hypothesizing that perhaps that was the reason why it worked so well for her.

"Of course it does!" Ukraine insisted. "Why would I ever lie to a friend?"

Vietnam gasped upon being taken out of her trance by Ukraine's words. "F-Friend?"

Ukraine nodded her head, though she was clearly taken aback by how surprised Vietnam sounded. "Y-Yes," she answered. She then lightly blushed and quietly asked, "I mean, we are... aren't we?"

Vietnam's darted from Ukraine to the floor and back several times as she considered how to answer. On the one hand, this was the first time the two had ever really interacted with one another, but on the other hand, their time with each other had felt quite refreshing, wasn't it? It wasn't the constant need to be energetic and failing at it like it was with Taiwan, but it also wasn't a total bore like it was with other nations sometimes either. It was a more relaxing type of fun, a fun where you didn't have to worry too much when you were around a person and could just talk normally with about anything and still have somewhat of a good time with. It helped that Ukraine, despite most people's first impressions, was a bit more outgoing than she let up to be, and was more patient and less forceful in terms of persuading someone to do something new or something she wanted to do; and if Vietnam remembered correctly, she had even thought that they were more similar than she would've initially given them credit for. Sure, Ukraine was a bit overemotional, but she wasn't exactly the most fun person to be around either, and when she really thought about it, they seemed to complement each other quite well.

Maybe, just maybe, it was possible.

Vietnam gave Ukraine a small smile before nodding her head slightly and saying, "Yeah, I guess we are."

Ukraine's face practically glowed, unshed tears of joy threatening to fall from her face as it did. "Oh, Viet-dear! Do you really mean it?"

Vietnam chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I had fun."

"Even with the milk makers?"

Vietnam blushed and averted her eyes while covering her chest. "L-Let's not get too carried away now."

"O-Oh!" Ukraine cried, blushing out of embarrassment over not realizing her friend's own discomfort. "Right! Sorry! But," she grabbed Vietnam's hands excitedly, "this is wonderful! I've made another friend after so long!"

Vietnam nodded and chuckled at the bustier nation's enthusiasm. "Same here." It was then that the two nations noticed the sun shining through Vietnam's window. "Huh," Vietnam mused. "It looks like it finally stopped raining."

"I know, right?" Ukraine replied. "It's almost as if the weather got sunnier after we declared our friendship with each other."

Vietnam let out a weary sigh. "I highly doubt that. It's probably just a coincidence."

Ukraine giggled. "Yes, I suppose you're right.

* * *

"Ugh!" Britain cried as he and Romania fell to the floor out of relief and exhaustion. "We did it! We finally bloody did it!

"I know, right?!" Romania said. "Who knew that in order to stop the rain, all we had to do was say the chant backwards?!"

"Of course no one would know, you bloody twit! Who would be stupid enough to suggest an idea so bloody stupid?!"

"Huh?" Romania said, turning to Britain questionably as he did. "You did, didn't you?"

Britain blushed. "Of course I did! I know I did!" He then scooted himself closer to Romania and threateningly whispered, "Which is why we will never speak of this night for as long as we live, do you understand?"

Romania gulped before giving Britain a dutiful salute. "Eye eye captain.

* * *

After Ukraine's clothes had finished drying and Vietnam had called a taxi cab for her to take her home, Ukraine and Vietnam exchanged hugs and said their final goodbyes for the day at Vietnam's doorstep. Before leaving, however, Ukraine stopped after a taking a few steps, turned around, and said, "You know, Viet-dear, now that we are friends, I feel a bit bad for not at least trying to help you pay SOME of the expenses for your motorcycle, otherwise all this visit would've been was you taking care of me and my stupid mistakes."

Vietnam simply shook her head and waved it off. "Like I said, don't worry about it. Besides, it's the thought that counts, right? And when you really think about it, you've more than paid your end of the debt.

Ukraine raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? And how exactly did I do that?"

Vietnam gave her a small smile before simply answering, "Your friendship."

Ukraine gasped before tearing up a bit and crying, "Viet-dear!" and running back to envelope her in one last, great, big hug for the day, inadvertently squishing Vietnam's face against her breasts as she joyfully laughed at the thought of making such a good friend that day.

The two would hang out sporadically throughout the rest of their lives, hanging out with their usual friends most of the time, but always keeping in touch and planning friendly outings whenever they could and whenever they could make contact with one another. They were certainly an odd pair, a pair that, at first glance, didn't seem to be particularly close, but the two of them didn't mind. They knew that they were friends, and that was all they ever needed to know.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry that it took so long to finish this story! Hopefully the ending was at least somewhat worth the wait! And with that, this story has officially ended. These two are my favorite Hetalia characters, and since the two nations have a pretty good relationship in real life, I sort of wanted to write a story about them. When you really think about it, the two characters have a lot in common, don't they? Either that or they seem like people who would get along with each other just fine. Ah well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to those who stuck with this story despite the long wait between chapters! You guys are real troopers and a real motivator to finish what I started! Again, I hope it was worth the wait!


End file.
